Dr. Chris Kuehl is the Chief Economist and Managing Director of Armada Corporate Intelligence, a firm that functions as a strategy office for its clients by combining the disciplines of corporate and competitive intelligence, economic forecasting, and strategic planning. Armada’s mission is to inform executive decision-making through rigorous analysis and forward-looking forecasting.

Chris has spent more than two decades advising a wide range of corporate clients, including NCM, MarksNelson, YRC Freight, Tallgrass Freight, Kansas City Southern Railroad, Echo Logistics, and others. His work spans the full spectrum of market forces affecting business operations — from domestic economic conditions and supply chain dynamics to raw materials, geopolitical risk, and industrial sector trends.

He currently serves or has served as the named Chief Economist for multiple national and international industry organizations, including the Fabricators and Manufacturers Association, the American Supply Association, the Industrial Heating Equipment Association, the Chemical Coaters Association International, and the Forging Industry Association. For the Fabricators and Manufacturers Association, he authors Fabrinomics, a twice-monthly publication detailing how economic trends impact manufacturers, and serves as economic commentator at all of their national and international meetings. He also prepares the monthly IHEA/CCAI Economic Trends Index for the Industrial Heating Equipment Association and Chemical Coaters Association International.

Beyond the private sector, Chris serves as a Red Team economist for the US Army, US Marines, US Air Force, and the US Border Patrol — applying his analytical expertise to strategic scenarios at the highest levels of national security planning.

His reach into state-level business communities is equally deep. He serves as the economic analyst for CPA societies across more than a dozen states, including Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Kentucky, Tennessee, Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, Illinois, and others. He is also the economic analyst for the Riemer Reporting Service.

Chris is a co-editor and publisher of the Armada Flagship Brief, an executive intelligence publication covering national and regional political and economic trends that affect business decisions. The Flagship reaches several thousand business executives three times per week through various business organizations.

One of the most active economists on the speaking circuit, Chris delivers approximately 100 keynote presentations per year to business and industry associations across the US and internationally. His ability to make complex economic forces understandable and actionable for business leaders — from the factory floor to the C-suite — has made him one of the most trusted voices in industrial and manufacturing economics.

Prior to co-founding Armada in 1999, Chris spent over 15 years as a professor of international economics and finance, teaching across the US, Hungary, Russia, Estonia, Singapore, and Taiwan. He holds a doctorate in Political Economics along with advanced degrees in Soviet Studies and East Asian Studies.